Inside Asian Gaming

inside asian gaming April 2016 16 is. There’s also training and talent. If we want to attract business tourism or other leisure markets we really need to look at our service quality. We don’t have a common goal or strategy. We don’t have public-private collaboration where we can work on a strategy document saying this is what we’re going to do. We need a consensus on where we want to be in the medium and long- term. The global tourism industry is very competitive. Outbound Chinese now have plenty of options. So Macau has to think about how it fits in with the competition. IAG: Macau got a great new shiny University at Hengqin a couple of years ago – going from the extreme of a tiny campus squeezed on top of a hill in Taipa to an enormous sprawling Industry profile for Macau to strengthen its infrastructure. From a tourism point of view, what do you think are the most pressing issues and why? GM: Every destination has to take care of getting people around in a seamless way, especially if it wants visitors on business, who pay a lot more money. Long queues at immigration and bottlenecking are not things we can get away with because people can now share them instantly on social media. Infrastructure should always be ahead of development. It has to be planned for 30 or 40 years; for 2050 when Macau will be integrated with Hengqin and the wider Pearl River Delta. My concern is we are instead playing catchup. You can see Macau’s transit system hasn’t kept pace and that reflects quite negatively on the destination. IAG: We’re seeing a paradigm shift in Macau from a VIP-dominated market to a mass-dominated market. Any comments on that? GM: The VIP downturn does not mean people in China are feeling a downturn. They’re still earning lots of money to travel and spend and their wealth is still growing. I think the area where we will see large developments will be the premium mass market, which is driven by casinos marketing direct to consumers. If our integrated resorts can appeal to a greater section of Chinese society I believe that will be a very prominent future direction for the industry. The VIP downturn does not mean people in China are feeling a downturn. They’re still earning lots of money to travel and spend and their wealth is still growing. I think the area where we will see large developments will be the premium mass market. campus more than one square kilometer in size over over at Hengqin. What’s your opinion of the change? GM: It’s a large campus and we know Macau’s population isn’t going to be enough. So in the years to come we will have to appeal to mainland China and build a student base that is much broader than Macau in order to fill it. We will have to build its image and brand to appeal and compete regionally. My faculty is gaming and hospitality. One of the areas we have focused on is integrated resorts which is an area where Macau is unique. By leveraging this we want to partner with institutions in China. IAG: We’ve heard you on a number of occasions stressing the need